Nihil est in intellectu quid non fuerit prius in sensu.
"The single fin is the superior of all fin set ups. It is the future of surf craft. When the speaker states that that particular single fin board and others like it now days have been modernized, they have in fact been antiquated. They have put detrimental / anti-wave features like concaves, vees, hard edge rails in the tail / fin area, and reduced thickness foils, and reduced thickness in the rails. The fin is also antiquated as are all dolphin and greenough style fins. A single fin is more maneuverable and way faster and better in the tube, when and only when, the board's hull, rail shapes, thickness, thickness foil, are shaped properly and when the fin is shaped and foiled properly. The man who invented the "Thruster" has perfected them, and his name is not Simon Anderson. The thrust in a thruster or quad is in the wide thicker tail and narrow nose outline, something that was not prominent before a certain shaper invented the wider tail narrower nose plane shape, on a shortboard, that Simon Anderson put three fins on. Before this outline by a certain shaper was invented on shortboards, single fins were on boards with the wide point way ahead of center, with hard down rails all the way through especially in the tail fin area, and long narrow dragging tail, hard to turn. Since stubbornness insisted on hard edge down rails in the tail, they had to make the boards with the wide point way ahead of center, and tails long and narrow and dragging to try to keep the tail from sliding out. You can ride a surfboard with no fin, although poorly, but you can't ride three fins with out a surfboard. The Magazines and contests made Simon's three fins popular by promoting it either by straight promotion, or by giving negative reviews in magazines and unjust poor results in contests on anything ridden that wasn't the clone look alike "thruster" that became more and more mutilated and anorexic with the passage of time. A single fin with a wide thick tail will produce so much more speed than anything else with perfect control and hold on the steepest waves if the bottom is shaped with a smooth continuous convex, and if the rail is maintained full, thick, and soft edged next to or beside the fin, having the rail get hard and sharp only at the back / rear end of the fin box, right at the end of the tail of the board. The tail will also hold and turn better than anything else with a rounded tail. A thick round wide tail also works on three and two fins, but the rail is made sharp at the front leading edge of the two side fins, just like in the conventional, but backward regression surfboard most people ride. There is a cut off point to making a wide thick round tail for three fins, because as the tail gets too wide the fins start to act independently of each other and cause reactions that are unpredictable and detrimental. Plus, three fins cause much more drag and can never go as fast as a wide tailed single fin, no matter how much you hop, pump rail to rail, constantly turn, and but wiggle the board. To make the tail even wider and thicker, which produces much more speed, and to get it to go faster than anything out there, a stiff, thick, deep, unconventionally plane shaped single fin is needed as it produces much less drag, much more speed, control, hold, and maneuverability. The fin must have less base and more tip, and the base must neither be in front or behind the tip. The board must have thick, full, round, and soft 60 / 40 rails all the way through even next to the single fin; this gives the fin as much hold as a slow quad. Quads and tri fins seem faster, but they have top end speed, and can never go as fast as a wide round thick tailed board as I have described. The board I talk about has no speed limit. What is said of the "amazing feeling" and "6th gear" of Displacement hulls, and I own a few Liddles, putting them in fast lined up surf, is just a little better if at all then the "high performance" WSL tris and quads. Nothing compares to the sensation of the board I am speaking of. On a fast hollow powerful wave, you get in super early and the board goes so fast making sections and feels like it is hovering above the water like a flying saucer, with perfect smoothness and control, and it feels like you are hovering above the water surface if you are at the bottom of a steep wave, like you are flying. The board likes to take a high line so take a very highline if it's not barreling yet, and if it's a good almondy barrel ride it mid face, not at the bottom. If It's a square barrel, ride it at the bottom bowly part, but the board slots itself as high as necessary to make the wave and barrel, where the speed to make the barrel lies. Don't be afraid to ride this single fin high on the face of a steep face, it will not slide out. he board gets you in so early on waves others can't even catch. I mean waves to big and windy to catch or to small. If you are somehow tossed and airborn (very rare) you just stay over the board and have faith, and when you reconnect with feet to board and board to water, it's like landing on flat stable ground, plus the board takes automatically a perfect line, down the line making the section. No waving the arms around with arched back recoveries. Perfect in perfect stance recoveries. This happened to me a few times on risky tricky backwash hollow waves, and on such a thick heavy board I knew it might hurt if I didn't make it. Every single time I stay perfectly calm and reconnected and the board slotted itself. This board actually slots itself into the barrel if there is one. If there isn't a barrel just ride very high, even on the lip roller coasting or pumping and it will go faster, right off the bat, then any quad, down the line. But the board 99.9% of the time gets in super early, and it sticks onto steep sucking walls. The board must have absolutely no flats or vees or panels or channels or concaves on the bottom. These features make the board want to slide out and go slow, hence why the so called modernized single fin spoken of by the speaker doesn't get up and going like the quad, because of the concaves, vees, flats, and hard sharp edged rails, that need multiple fins. These detrimental flats and concaves make the board loose it's natural directional control and they want to go straight to the beach, and stay flat to the water, sucked on to the water. The board I speak of must be wide and thick through out, with thick, full, soft, round rails all the way except at the very back end of the fin box. The nose and tail thicknesses must stay thick although a little less thick then the middle. The tail must be wider then the nose. The wide point must never be ahead of center. The bottom must be a continuous smooth roll from nose to tail, but the apex, depth, and wideness of this "roll" must change from nose to tail, inch by inch in a very specific proportioned way. The board needs heavier glass for momentum since the thickness makes it "corky" and lighter with out extra glass. The fin must be shaped like a sea gull wing as the wing is brought forward for drive against opposing winds. The rocker must be done correctly. It's weight must be balanced correctly. The master that makes these is called Geoff McCoy and he has a website and there are youtube videos of him describing his boards. It's all grass roots. I never even met him, but I am a believer, and I surf well. I want to spread the stoke. This board will put the stoke back in your surfing, and although it seemed impossible after I did super tight on rail turns, it will turn tighter in tighter spots on waves, better than thin rails, and you will keep ALL of your speed after the turn. Don't believe the myth of the so-called-modern -short board. It is a lie. The Geoff McCoy Astron Zot is the future of fun and performance and speed and maneuverability."﻿

The Mighty Sunbird wrote:I think I had kebab and DOOGH every day. Fresh DOOGH is heavenly

As I've said, for me they go better as a quad. I'll continue to try them as a gullwing single every now and then, and I will admit they go faster that way, but I just can't find any rhythm and control with the gullwing.

I pick up my 7' zot tomorrow. It took a while to have the quad conversion done.

I agree about designing the profile that Simon used to invent the Thruster. I love how surfing produces crazy obsessed ratbags who think they are misunderstood geniuses. Imagine if everyone rode an Astron Zot. The world would be a better place and surfing performance would increase tenfold.

I would like to be able to say that the McCoy riders group is a scintillating collection of original and outspoken surfers enjoying the unique capabilities of Geoff's unique designs... but in reality its usually pretty pedestrian. What else could you expect when everyone is in agreement?

I would like to be able to say that the McCoy riders group is a scintillating collection of original and outspoken surfers enjoying the unique capabilities of Geoff's unique designs... but in reality its usually pretty pedestrian. What else could you expect when everyone is in agreement?

I've been part of the McCoy cult.

It's great fun, really great people. I totally recommend it.

I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

Happy to pick it up and store it here for you until you figure out how to get it to NSW.
Interesting that it was shaped for Gerry Wedd, a well respected local surfer who has been around forever.
Couple of links to him, sounds like he has a bit of a McCoy fetish at times. http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/108 ... gerry-wedd